Evidence, and other drabbles
by PrettyArbitrary
Summary: The salvage of my attempt to complete a 30 word prompt. POV of the drabbles centers on Jr., though sometimes he contemplates others of the cast.
1. Evidence

A/N: These drabbles are the remnant of my attempt to complete a 30 word prompt list for Xenosaga. I probably won't be adding any more, but you never know. I might get bitten by the bug again sometime. They were fun to try, anyway! Each drabble was exactly 100 words in MS Word. I have no clue how counts, but it sure doesn't doesn't do it like real people.

Is anyone actually confused as to whether Xenosaga belongs to me? No? I thought not.

**

* * *

Evidence**

The Kukais don't hide their tattoos. It's safe enough—the numbers mean nothing to anyone else—but it's also a matter of pride. _If these guys knew they were shaking hands with property, _Jr. sometimes muses vindictively to Gaignun during conferences. _If these VIPs with realian trains attending them like slaves knew we were the 'non-people' they treat like dirt..._

If only they knew that the two of them wear their real names tattooed across their palms.

The fabulously wealthy Kukais could remove those tattoos with pocket change. They keep them as the secret reminder of what they really are.


	2. Funeral

**Funeral **

It guts Jr. that of the millions who flock to honor Guignan's memory, not a damn one actually knew the man. Jr. can't share the truth of his brother. No one else knew them, shared the intimacies of their lives and minds. Standing before the coffin (closed, because there's no body and if there were it would've only pissed him off more because it wouldn't have been real), Jr. lies to the galaxy with a eulogy for a man who never existed.

A galaxy is ready to help him mourn Gaignun Kukai. There's no one to help him mourn Nigredo. 


	3. Secret

**Secret **

chaos is one of those men who wield no apparent power of their own, but who _know_ everyone. The Kukais are...sensitized to secrets, and familiar with the concept of "older than you look." The brothers haven't missed that chaos always gets their historic references, and if they say so themselves, few are better-versed in historic obscurities than they. For a while, Jr. made a game of stumping chaos with esoteric quotes, but he never won. The Kukais understand secrets, and they'll honor his, but chaos is, to quote an old favorite, "a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma."


	4. Storm I

**Storm I**

Appearances aside, Jr. is a disciplined man. Guignan wouldn't trust the _Durandal_ to an unstable captain, after all. At times, however, Guignan's reminded that Jr. contains storms within him. When provoked in meetings, Guignan has watched red wisps rise from Jr's hands. When facing corruption, Guignan has seen Jr's silhouette blur as if his power were shaking him apart. Despite looking like he could be a board member's grandchild, when Jr. draws himself up and throws his head back, everyone recoils from the fires in his eyes. Worry about discipline? Jr. is a volcano who won't let himself erupt. 


	5. Storm II

**Storm II**

Within Jr. the Red Dragon howls in a perpetual storm. If he unleashed it, it would rise on screaming winds to shred everything around him. He has never set it free; his one vision of it unfettered was of planetary cataclysm. Never entirely silent, in sleep it smolders in his breast like a hot coal. When it awakens, the force rises to batter at him till he can hear its echoes rumble in the atmosphere above him and the earth below. It promises to rend the world asunder, tempts him with the prospect of nothing left to ache for.


	6. Superstition

**Superstition **

Jr. likes history too much to miss the significance of his name-not his old moniker "Rubedo," but his _real_ name: URTV Variant #666. He's aware of the implications, thanks. And given his "beloved father" was the one who ensured their thorough historical education, he doubts the apocalyptic references were accidental.

He wonders, though, was Yuriev twisted enough to clone 665 URTVs before him just so Jr. would get the magic number?

He wonders how much it's only metaphorical.

He wonders how much Yuriev actually planned. He certainly didn't plan Albedo.

Sometimes, uneasily, Jr. wonders whether he believes in prophecy. 


	7. Weapon I

**Weapon **

"They're beautiful, you know," Jr. mused, watching light play on the gun's barrel. "All clean lines and smooth metal. Simple but elegant mechanisms. They're a bit like you, actually."

Guignan raised an eyebrow. "I'm not sure whether I'm flattered or disturbed. Is that why you like them?"

"Because of you? Egomaniac!"

"No, fool," Guignan retorted, smiling. "Because they're elegant."

Jr. cradled a pistol thoughtfully. "I like them because they're deadly. And straightforward. No pretensions. No unexpected complications." He broke the weapon down expertly. "Just you, your target, a bullet and a trigger."

Guignan nodded. "Not much like us after all."


	8. Weapon II

**Weapon II**

Weapons aren't built to wield themselves, Rubedo thinks, watching the planet orbit beneath him. At first, he hated himself, blamed himself for his lack of control...but now he thinks it's something worse. Dmitri had no reason to design the Red Dragon to shut itself off. He had no reason to treat the genes he manipulated as a boy rather than a weapon and grant him the mercy of free will. Helmer tries so hard to provide them childhood, but what if the illusion is that they aren't weapons, that it's possible to escape the purpose they were created for?


	9. Blood

**Blood **

_So much blood_, Jr. thinks every time he sees Albedo. The man seems to bathe in it. Every time they meet, it ends up pouring down his arms, drips from his clothes, soaks his hair till he's as red-headed as his twin. It gathers in pools at his feet and puddles in his footsteps. Albedo has a never-ending supply of blood, and when he doesn't feel like shedding his own, he spills it from others as though they're nothing but vessels for his favorite shade of paint. It leaves Jr. uncomfortably aware of how perfectly his own colors match it.


End file.
